Journal Article

Characteristics of children admitted to hospital with acute SARS-CoV-2 infection in Canada in 2020

King, Melanie, Papenburg, Jesse, Salvadori, Marina I., Pound, Catherine M., Viel-Thériault, Isabelle, Baerg, Krista, Embree, Joanne E., Top, Karina A., Hepburn, Charlotte Moore, Orkin, Julia, Kakkar, Fatima, Chan, Kevin, Morris, Shaun K., Farrell, Catherine, Laffin, Melanie, Price, Victoria E., Giroux, Ryan, Forgie, Sarah, Purewal, Rupeena, Cyr, Claude, Kang, Kristopher T., Farrar, Daniel S., Donner, Elizabeth J., Drouin, Olivier, Luu, Thuy Mai, Sadarangani, Manish

2021

Overview

Risk factors for severe outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection are not well established in children. We sought to describe pediatric hospital admissions associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection in Canada and identify risk factors for more severe disease. We conducted a national prospective study using the infrastructure of the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program (CPSP). Cases involving children who were admitted to hospital with microbiologically confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection were reported from Apr. 8 to Dec. 31 2020, through weekly online questionnaires distributed to the CPSP network of more than 2800 pediatricians. We categorized hospital admissions as related to COVID-19, incidental, or for social or infection control reasons and determined risk factors for disease severity in hospital. Among 264 hospital admissions involving children with SARS-CoV-2 infection during the 9-month study period, 150 (56.8%) admissions were related to COVID-19 and 100 (37.9%) were incidental infections (admissions for other reasons and found to be positive for SARS-CoV-2 on screening). Infants (37.3%) and adolescents (29.6%) represented most cases. Among hospital admissions related to COVID-19, 52 (34.7%) had critical disease, 42 (28.0%) of whom required any form of respiratory or hemodynamic support, and 59 (39.3%) had at least 1 underlying comorbidity. Children with obesity, chronic neurologic conditions or chronic lung disease other than asthma were more likely to have severe or critical COVID-19. Among children who were admitted to hospital with SARS-CoV-2 infection in Canada during the early COVID-19 pandemic period, incidental SARS-CoV-2 infection was common. In children admitted with acute COVID-19, obesity and neurologic and respiratory comorbidities were associated with more severe disease.

• Publisher: Elsevier Inc,CMA Joule Inc,CMA Impact, Inc
• Subject: 2020 AD / Age / Asymptomatic / Children / Children & youth / Comorbidity / Coronaviruses / COVID-19 / Demographic aspects / Diseases / Health surveillance / Hemodynamics / Hospital patients / Hospitalization / Hospitals / Infections / Internal Medicine / Neurological disorders / Obesity / Pandemics / Pathophysiology / Patient admissions / Pediatric research / Pediatrics / Public health / Respiratory diseases / Risk factors / Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 / Statistics